This invention relates to video display bezels, and more particularly to a bezel which can be quickly and easily removed by a user or service technician.
The user of a video display device, usually a cathode ray tube, may be required to remove the bezel which frames the display screen. Such a situation might arise for any number of reasons. The user may desire to place or remove a filter between the bezel and the screen. Similarly, the advent of computer touchscreen technology gives the user of a computer video display the option of installing a touchscreen device by installing a special touchscreen bezel unit. Thus the need for a bezel which can be quickly and easily removed and replaced has arisen within the video display industry.
To date, a bezel could not be removed without considerable effort. Design constraints require that a bezel accommodate the varying tolerances in screen dimensions incurred in the manufacturing process. It is also desirable that the bezel fit tightly around the display screen face.
In the prior art the bezel has been seated against the video display screen from behind the screen itself. Screws are used to attach the bezel to the display frame. The screws are tightened such that the bezel plastically deforms to accommodate the dimensions of the cathode ray tube and simultaneously seals off the face of the cathode ray tube. Such a configuration is costly and makes removal and replacement of the bezel quite difficult.
Another prior approach uses shims to mount the cathode ray tube so that the screen itself is positioned against a bezel molded directly to the display housing. While this arrangement is not as costly as the method using screws, removal and replacement of the bezel is again not easily or quickly achieved.
Other designs have simply allowed the face of the screen to remain unsealed leaving a gap between the edge of the bezel and the display screen face. This has proven undesirable because the bezel does not protect the electronics inside of the display against contamination such as by liquid spills. Furthermore, in systems where the cathode ray tube is internally cooled by means of convection, the absence of a seal on the face of the cathode ray tube allows leakage of the cooling air through unwanted paths.